Page:The Novels and Tales of Henry James, Volume 2 (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1907).djvu/210

THE AMERICAN ingratitude I think so still. But I confess I don't see quite what you are and what you've done to make such a woman go these extravagant lengths for you."

"Oh, there's something very fine in it!"—Newman laughed as he repeated her words. He took an extreme satisfaction in hearing that there was something very fine in it. He had not the least doubt of this himself, but he had already begun to value the world's view of his possible prize as adding to the prospective glory of possession.

It was immediately after this passage that Valentin de Bellegarde came to conduct his friend to the Rue de l'Université and present him to the other members of his family. "You're already introduced and you've begun to be talked about. My sister has mentioned your successive visits to my mother, and it was an accident that my mother was present at none of them. I 've spoken of you as an American of immense wealth, and the best fellow in the world, who's looking for something quite superior in the way of a wife."

"Do you suppose," asked Newman, "that Madame de Cintré has reported to your mother the last conversation I had with her?"

"I'm very certain she has n't; she'll keep her own counsel. Meanwhile," Valentin said, "you must make your way with the rest of the family. Thus much is known about you—that you've made a great fortune in trade, that you're a frank outsider and an honest eccentric, and that you furiously admire our charming Claire. My sister-in-law, whom you remember seeing in Claire's sitting-room, took, 180